What did we learn from talking with The Vampire Diaries co-creator and executive producer Julie Plec about season seven of the popular The CW series? One, Caroline and Alaric are going to be having a difficult time dealing with the events of season six. Two, that we can expect interesting and smart new female characters. And three, Damon and Stefan are going to be dealing with the return of their mother and her new family (along with the loss of their home).

Asked about the theme of this upcoming seventh season, Plec replied, “You know, honestly it’s hard because everyone is kind of having a shared journey of dealing with the fact of what defines who their family is, but I feel weird pitching it like that because that’s sort of the whole premise of The Originals. But I would say this, Damon and Stefan are dealing with the fact that their mother – who essentially abandoned them – has now shown up in this town, their hometown, with a group of people who she calls her family and that she calls her children in a way that she doesn’t care for them. They have to sit and watch as she and these kids take over their hometown, move into their house, and really live their lives in plain sight of our heroes. It’s emotionally incredibly frustrating and disappointing, and it teaches them a lot about their relationship with each other, their relationship that they always wanted to get with her. And then it puts them in a situation of are they going to make amends with this woman or are they going to take her down? I think that that for the first half of the season at least is the emotional foundation of the show for sure.”

Since Damon and Stefan (Paul Wesley) have been kicked out of their home, where exactly will our favorite Mystic Falls vampires be living? “They reluctantly move into Matt Donovan/Tyler Lockwood’s house,” said Plec during our roundtable interview at Comic Con. “But there is a brief run where Damon is exiled from Mystic Falls by his mother temporarily and he has to go shack up with Alaric and it’s hilarious because Alaric is like, ‘Really? You’re my roommate now?’ And they have like a little bit of an odd couple bout of fun that is good for a laugh.”

Speaking of Alaric (Matthew Davis), Plec confirmed he’s still not in a good place when season seven kicks off. “Alaric is not great. Alaric has really, really taken the brunt of a lot of the bad things that have happened, certainly last season. He’s not great in that way that he’s making some clearly questionable decisions. He’s dabbling in the occult in ways that maybe he shouldn’t be. He’s desperate to find some way to contact the spirit of his dead wife and crazy things like that. Not to say none of that’s been done on our show and done repeatedly, but as everybody points out to him there was the other side before. That no longer exists. Whatever happened with Jo and their babies, they’re gone. He’s not quite willing to accept that as fact. It’s sad to watch and Bonnie takes pity on him because he says, ‘Why should this time be different? Everybody else has gotten something back that they’ve lost. Why do I have to be the one that loses it forever?’ So Bonnie signs up as a buddy to help him reach out and contact her. In Bonnie’s mind, ‘Even if I try everything and fail, at least then perhaps he’ll move on.'”

As for the relationship between Bonnie (Kat Graham) and Damon (Ian Somerhalder), Plec says they’ll have to work hard on maintaining their friendship which is strained because of Elena’s situation. “They went through such a unique experience together and they really have bonded. It’s like being stranded on a desert island with somebody. They hit it off; they shared something that nobody else can understand. They really, really found a deep friendship with each other which is surprising considering how little respect they had for each other leading up to that situation. And now they still have that but there’s this underlying resentment on both sides. For Damon, he’s like making jokes like, ‘Bonnie, you better chew that sandwich well because I’d hate for you to choke and die. I don’t know the Heimlich maneuver.’ And she’s sad over the guilt of, ‘I’ve got my life and my friend doesn’t have hers, and this asshole is making jokes about me choking on a chicken bone.’ They’re going to have to work their stuff out if their friendship is going to stay on track. They need to really work that out.”

And season seven will also find Caroline (Candice Accola) facing life without her mother. “Caroline went through something that nobody wishes on anybody else, the death of her mom. Especially in the supernatural world where she’s used to being able to accomplish anything, she couldn’t do anything to save her mother. So in doing so she’s really trying to find out how she can regain control of her life and to not feel like she’s spiraling. Stefan very sweetly said, ‘Hey, ‘I’ll wait for you to get your stuff together.’ So when we come back she’s still trying and yet he’s becoming harder and harder to resist. Caroline’s going to go through a lot this season that I’m not even going to attempt to spoil, but it’s going to be a pretty massive storyline that will be pretty bananas – but awesome!”